Volunteer back in saddle

The co-ordinator of a charitable trust whose bike went missing during flood-damage checks says he has been ‘‘overwhelmed’’ by the community response.

Link Pathway co-ordinator Rick Edmonds had taken his son’s mountainbike to have a look at flood damage to the by volunteers and donations.

Having left the bike hidden from view so he could walk around a slip on August 28, two weeks after the severe rain event, Edmonds said he was shocked and disappointed to find someone had taken it, and his son was gutted.

But after speaking publicly about the ‘‘kick in the teeth’’, Edmonds said he had been flooded with offers of bikes, and tips about where his son’s bike could be.

‘‘It was quite overwhelming, the responses. I had a lot of people offer me a loan of bikes . . . I reckon I know just about where every random bike is in Marlborough, left behind a barn, or out in the Sounds propped up against a tree,’’ Edmonds said.

The Menz Shed Blenheim was one of the donors, offering a bike as a donation to the Link

Pathway Trust, which Edmonds decided to take them up on.

The shed, one of four in Marlborough, was a place for men to share their skills, socialise and work on practical tasks to benefit the community, including repairing used bikes, which were then sold cheaply to the public as a fundraiser.

Shed chairperson Dave Oliver said the team was happy to help. ‘‘The Menz Shed is itself a charity, and one of its abiding principles is that it should assist other charities, or individuals doing charitable work.’’

The shed’s regulars included a farmer, doctor and scientist, all retired, who were skilled at bike repair, Oliver said. They recently gave six to Mayfield School.

The Menz Shed had also been the recipient of community kindness after their own bike theft, when someone broke in and stole several bikes in June. Harcourts Real Estate had donated $500 towards a new security system for the shed, Oliver said.

Edmonds said others such as Bikefit in Blenheim had also offered a new mountain bike.

‘‘So the trust will probably end up with a few bikes. There’s more than just me doing stuff on the track so a couple of bikes means we can send out a fleet.’’

Volunteers had been hard at work repairing the track since the August floods. Much of it had reopened, except for about 2km between Cullen Pt and Moenui which was expected to reopen in the next week.

Edmonds said while use of the track was free he encouraged donations through the Link Pathway Trust Givealittle page, an important source of funding for the trust to cover maintenance costs. The page funnelled more than 70 donations in the month after the July 2021 storm, providing nearly $10,000 towards repairs.

The comments that came with the donations, and those on the trust’s Facebook posts, were a huge encouragement amid the repeated flood damage, Edmonds said.

The Picton Lions also made a sizeable donation last week.

‘‘They invited me to talk especially about the storm damage . . . they indicated they had a significant donation, but you’re never quite sure what that means, $100 or maybe $1000 – I dared to hope for $1000.’’

So when they pulled out an oversized cheque for $30,000, Edmonds was stunned.

‘‘It just blew me away . . . it means so much for us.’’